Muslim man moves Kerala HC seeking to free Hindu wife from father's custody

Kochi: A 27-year old Muslim man from Kozhikode district has moved Kerala high court seeking to set at liberty his wife, a Hindu said to have converted to Islam, from alleged illegal custody of her father.

When the habeas corups petition filed by Fasil Mahmood of Kuttiyandi came up for hearing, a bench comprising V Chitambresh and KP Jyothindranath ordered notice to the girl’s father residing in Bengaluru.

Habeas corpus petition is filed to produce a person believed to be under illegal detention.

Mahmood submitted that he was into hotel business in Bengaluru when he fell in love with the woman in his neighbourhood.

After two years of courtship, the woman converted to Islam and both got married as per Muslim customs and started living in Kozhikode, he said.

However, at the intervention of the woman’s father and other relatives, Kozhikode police had “compelled” him and his wife to sign on blank stamp papers and handed them over to Bengaluru police, the petitioner alleged.

Later, the woman was sent with her father by Bengaluru police who, he alleged, subjected him to physical and mental torture between March 28 to April 2 last year.

The youth further alleged he had received a phone call on May 29 from a person who threatened to kill him if he did not give up on his wife. The petitioner submitted he had received similar threats again on June 5.

When he came to know that his wife was pregnant and “her life and future were in danger”, he submitted seeking the court’s intervention.